Literary Criticism Reviewer PDF

The text is a good reaction paper due to the following reasons: 1. The text tells us the author’s opinions about how technology affects lives of people especially students. You may agree or disagree with what the author says, and your reaction would depend on how the author support...

The text is a good reaction paper due to the following reasons: 1. The text tells us the author’s opinions about how technology affects lives of people especially students. You may agree or disagree with what the author says, and your reaction would depend on how the author supported his ideas with facts. 2. The text contains statistical data, and these are good evidence which helped in making the opinions strong. Without those data, you might think that the author is just inverting ideas. 3. Even your personal experience can be used as support because it was also mentioned that students use the internet and computers. 4. You will most likely agree with the author. But if you disagree, it is alright as long as you also have enough facts to support why you disagree with the author. 5. The most important thing to note is facts is necessary in supporting opinions because these will make your opinion objective and not biased. Approaches in Literary Criticism 1. Formalist Criticism Focus: Structure, style, and form of the text. Key Questions: o How is the work’s structure unified? o What recurring patterns (symbols, images) can you find? o How does the writer’s diction reveal or reflect the work’s meaning? 2. Biographical Criticism Focus: Author’s life and experiences. Key Questions: o What aspects of the author’s personal life are relevant to this story? o Do any of the events in the story correspond to events experienced by the author? o How do the author’s beliefs influence the work? 3. Historical Criticism Focus: Historical context of the text. Key Questions: o How does the text reflect the time in which it was written? o What historical events or movements might have influenced the writer?  o How would characters and events in this story have been viewed by the writer’s contemporaries? 4. Feminist Criticism Focus: Gender roles and power dynamics. Key Questions: o How are gender roles portrayed in the text? o What does the work reveal about the operations of patriarchy? o How do the characters’ gender identities influence their actions and outcomes? 5. Psychoanalytic Criticism Focus: Psychological motivations of characters. Key Questions: o What are the subconscious desires of the characters? o How do the characters’ psychological states influence their actions? o Are there any symbols that represent the characters’ inner conflicts? 6. Marxist Criticism Focus: Class struggle and socio-economic factors. Key Questions: o How does the text reflect class struggle? o What is the relationship between the characters’ social class and their fate? o How does the text critique or support the socio-economic status quo? 7. Reader-Response Criticism Focus: Reader’s interpretation and experience. Key Questions: o How does the text make you feel? o What personal experiences influence your interpretation of the text? o How do different readers interpret the text differently? 8. Post-Colonial Criticism Focus: Effects of colonization and cultural identity. Key Questions:  o How does the text represent colonial power dynamics? o What does the text reveal about cultural identity and resistance? o How are the colonized and colonizer portrayed? 9. New Historicism Focus: Interplay between the text and historical context. Key Questions: o How does the text interact with historical events and cultural practices? o What does the text reveal about the power structures of its time? o How does the text challenge or reinforce historical narratives? 10. Structuralism Focus: Underlying structures in the text. Key Questions: o What are the underlying structures that shape the text? o How do binary oppositions (e.g., good vs. evil) function in the text? o How does the text fit into a larger system of cultural signs? 11. Deconstruction Focus: Instability of meaning in the text. Key Questions: o How does the text undermine its own meanings? o What contradictions and ambiguities can be found in the text? o How does the text challenge the idea of fixed meaning?